April 15 (Reuters) - Wall Street’s main indexes fell on Monday, pulling back from a rally in the prior session that took the S&P 500 within striking distance of its September record close, as lackluster results from Goldman Sachs and Citigroup pressured financial stocks.

“Earnings and guidance need to be better than estimates for the market strength to continue given the levels we are at now.”

Monday’s results are in contrast to JPMorgan Chase’s upbeat earnings on Friday that eased fears of first-quarter earnings season slamming the brakes on Wall Street’s big rally back from last year’s slump. The benchmark S&P 500 index is just 1% away from its September record closing high.

On the trade discussions, Reuters reported that U.S. negotiators have tempered demands that China curb industrial subsidies as a condition for a trade deal, while Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he hoped the talks were approaching a final lap.

At 10:54 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 61.01 points, or 0.23%, at 26,351.29. The S&P 500 was down 8.11 points, or 0.28%, at 2,899.30 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 39.52 points, or 0.49%, at 7,944.65.

Of the 33 S&P 500 companies that have reported results so far, 81.8% have surpassed first-quarter earnings estimate, above the average of past four quarters, according to Refinitiv data.

Analysts expect S&P 500 companies to show a 2.1% year-on-year decline in earnings, their first annual contraction since 2016.

In a bright spot, the healthcare sector rose 0.1%, bouncing back from a rough week, led by a 2% gain in UnitedHealth Group Inc, CVS Health Corp and Anthem Inc.

Boeing Co fell 0.7% as Brand consultancy firm Brand Finance said negative publicity over the grounding of the planemaker’s 737 MAX jet is set to wipe $12 billion off the company’s brand value.

Nike Inc rose 0.4% after long-time brand ambassador Tiger Woods won the Masters title, ending an 11-year major title drought.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.37-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and for a 1.81-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 51 new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 59 new highs and 25 new lows. (Reporting by Amy Caren Daniel and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)